


Saying the Hard Things

by PutMeBackInCoach



Category: Amphibia (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Language (mild cursing), by god is there angst, lots of emotions with this bunch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28973019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PutMeBackInCoach/pseuds/PutMeBackInCoach
Summary: Sasha knows she messed up. Anne knows Sasha messed up. Can Sasha make it up to Anne? And herself?
Kudos: 21





	Saying the Hard Things

Anne tried her best to look unfazed by Sasha’s sword that she kept on her constantly. This sword tried to hurt Anne, and the family she’d grown accustomed to calling her own. She wondered if Sasha felt like that with any of the toads she’d met. But if she did, Sasha probably would not have come to Wartwood, or the Plantars. It all started two days prior. Anne was knocking down whatever Sprig was setting up, and Polly screamed from her bucket and hopped to the front yard as fast as she could.

“Anne!” Polly shouted. “What’s that jerk from Toad Tower doing here?”

“Which one?” Sprig giggled.

Sasha trudged into the front yard. Her shoulders were slumped. There were dark circles under her eyes. Anne would have said she looked exhausted. But she noticed Sasha’s demeanor. Her face was full of melancholy, like she’d done something she really didn’t want to do, but something she had to. Her mouth was slightly parted, but words hadn’t come out of there for god knows how long. Her hand was on the hilt of her sword, not ready to use it for an attack, but holding it for comfort, like it was her crutch.

“Sasha?” Anne asked. “What are you doing here?” Sasha didn’t speak. She shook her head. She almost turned around and left, but Anne couldn’t let her. Not when she looked so…distressed. Sad. Depressed. That’s what Anne settled on. Sasha looked depressed.

“I can’t explain myself,” Sasha said. That was all she said.

“Anne?” asked Sprig. “Can we, uh, sidebar?”

The two were about to turn away and whisper about the logistics of why Sasha was here, what she wanted, and if this was an act to catch them off guard or not. Before they could get into any of that, she spoke again. “I know you don’t trust me. You don’t have to.” Sprig turned his head and looked at Sasha skeptically.

“Do you think this is part of her scheme?” he asked.

“It’s not part of a scheme, you fucking twerp!” She shouted.

“Okay, Sash, it’s okay,” Anne put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. Sasha almost seemed to twinge at the contact, like she was being burned. “We believe you.”

“We do?” Sprig whispered. Sasha looked like she could cry. Anne was so not used to seeing this side of Sasha, and even after everything they’d been through, Anne felt like she had to help Sasha.

Hop Pop was skeptical too, but couldn’t turn away a kid in distress. His heart was too big. This could have been Anne, and he felt too protective of Anne to let anything happen to her, and anyone she cared about.

“The toads are far away, old man,” Sasha said. “They won’t know where to find me.” If they even want to find me, she thought. Sasha was the quietest Anne had ever seen her. Her cheerful, playful, competitive demeanor was gone. Like it was stolen from her somehow. Sasha got up early and helped Hop Pop with the crops with a straight face, and without a complaint, or word for that matter. She was surprisingly helpful around the house. Anne didn’t know what had gotten into her best friend. This wasn’t the Sasha she knew. She helped Hop Pop on the farm, and helped him clean after dinner. Almost like she was compensating. Making up for things. Lord knew she had plenty of them, but Anne didn’t realize Sasha knew that as well. In a normal world, Sasha would be goofing around with Anne and Sprig while there was still plenty of daylight, but now she was solemn. When Sasha had nothing to do, she just stood around, or sat all hunched up on the couch. She still always had the sword though.

After dinner, Anne helped Sasha do the dishes. She wasn’t sure if she should crack a joke and ease the tension, ask Sasha what was really going on if she even wanted to talk about it, or continue on in silence. Anne had never been so unsure of something in her life. The longer she hesitated, the more time she was wasting. The more she was choosing silence. After Sasha put away the last dish, she murmured to Anne, “Thanks.” She then turned on her heel and left the kitchen. She actually left the house. The Plantars and Anne all glanced out the window, but Sasha didn’t go far. She sat on the grass, close to herself.

“I’m gonna go out there,” Anne said. “I’m gonna try and talk to her.”

Sprig knew he couldn’t dissuade her even if it sounded crazy dangerous. “Be safe, okay?” Anne nodded.

She sat next to Sasha. “Nice night, huh.” She mentally kicked herself. _Nice night? Ugh, you should have opened by asking about airline food, you dingus!_

“Yeah,” Sasha replied.

“What happened?”

“I left,” Sasha scoffed. This was more like the Sasha that Anne was used to. The Sasha that Anne had loved.

“To you, Sash,” Anne said. Sasha had no words. She looked at the ground, intently studying a blade of grass.

“I don’t know,” she said, not averting her gaze from the ground.

“Don’t give me that,” Anne begged. “Sasha, I’ve been so worried about you. And then you show up here and we take you in, and I just want to know what changed.”

Sasha couldn’t bring herself to say it. “It’s getting late, Anne.” She stood and went back in the house to go to bed. Anne followed her and went back into the basement. She felt as glum as Sasha almost. She heard the door open and close behind her. It was Sprig.

“Hey, buddy,” Anne said.

“What happened?” asked Sprig. “Is she gonna try and kill us?”

“I don’t think so.”

“I also wanted to say Anne,” he started. “I know this is hard for you. After everything you two have been through. I admire your heart. Being able to take her in and coexist. I don’t even think I could do that. You’re a good person. In my opinion, Sasha doesn’t deserve you, but I know you don’t care about that.”

Anne held his words close. They were so personal and raw. She loved Sprig for his honesty. Feeling happiness and joy with a friend is one thing. Feeling vulnerable and not scared and being honest was another. Anne was thankful for everything his friendship had given her. She hoped he knew this. Sprig sat close to her and she hugged him.

“Thank you, Sprig,” she said. “I wouldn’t have half the heart I have if it weren’t for you guys and yours.”

Sprig blushed. He gave Anne a final reassuring pat on the arm. “Goodnight, Anne.” He hopped up the stairs and after he closed the basement door behind him, she could have sworn he said “Goodnight, Sasha.”

“Sleep well,” he told the blonde before hopping up another set of stairs into his room.

Sasha laid on the couch, gazing out the window behind her. She felt terrible. First she almost killed Anne and everyone she cared about, and now she showed up here with nothing but knowing Anne’s heart was too big for her own good. She had no other option. She couldn’t stay with the toads any longer. Not after they joked in graphic detail how they would kill the frogs, and Anne. Sasha wasn’t much for emotional openness and vulnerability, but she did know one thing: that she loved Anne and she would never forgive herself if something happened to her. Sasha got off the couch and paced the living room, her feelings too much to keep her on the couch. She was so unsure of how to repair everything she had with Anne. There was so much there to go through, back to their middle school days. The thought overwhelmed her. But there was one thing she could start with.

She hovered over the basement door. “There’s so much I have to say, Anne, and do to make it all up to you and…your family. The thought of starting that while it looks like a mountain is terrifying but I have to do it. I know I have to.” Sasha’s eyes started tearing. “You deserve so much more than me. And I’ll have to tell you all of this to your face at some point anyway, but I just needed to say it to myself first. And I know this doesn't begin to cover the mountain of shit I've put you through, but I just wanted to tell you…”

Sasha opened the basement door, sure Anne had to be sleeping by now. “I’m sorry, Anne.” She lightly closed the basement door so as not to wake her sleeping friend who deserved so much more than a simple good night’s sleep.

Anne had pretended to be sleeping, unsure what Sasha’s words would stir. But she had been awake alright. She had been awake. “You’ll get there, Sash.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the angst!


End file.
